


portrait of the artifice as a young man

by blueschist



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Existential Angst, Exploration of Personhood, F/M, M/M, Mild Gore, Multi, Trauma, What it means to be human, also is it really yugioh if you don't have two beings inhabiting the same headspace?, but also most of these things are being explored in a semi-joking manner, critique of capitalist society and the ruling class, gee yusei your mom lets you have TWO romantic partners?, pretty much everyone shows up at some point or another
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:47:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 8,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25793845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueschist/pseuds/blueschist
Summary: How do you cope with finding out you're just a crude, incomplete copy of someone else? With finding out that everything about you, right down to your humanity, is fake?Badly.  Very badly.**Yusei finds some body parts on the beach at two in the morning, which makes this outing pretty much the antithesis of a relaxing nighttime walk.  Ushio and Mikage, with the medical examiner's office, find a head."Fish usually eat the eyeballs first," Ushio said."The eyes and the penis," Mikage added blandly."That's- that's not even relevant right now.  I mean- whatever.  The eyes go first and well- here, they're intact."Other body parts wash up.  It's kind of fucking weird, actually.
Relationships: Bruno | Antinomy/Fudou Yuusei, Fudou Yuusei/Izayoi Aki, bruno | antinomy/izayoi aki friendship
Comments: 27
Kudos: 22





	1. diagnostics 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> about the title: yes i know 'artifice' isn't used to refer to people... but i wanted to reference the james joyce novel "portrait of the artist as a young man" and 'artifice' (which is etymologically related to 'artificial') just fits so fucking well into that, and also the google defines 'artifice' as "clever or cunning devices or expedients, especially as used to trick or deceive others." which fits.

>>What is it you want?

_I just want Yusei to be happy._

>>Wrong. Try again. What do YOU want.

He was silent for what felt like days, and it very well could have been. Time passed weirdly in this place. A hundred years, a hundred seconds.

_That is what I want. Oh! and a prosperous, peaceful future._

>>Wrong again. Think about what you actually want, not what selflessness tells you to want. You are allowed to desire things. I’ll give you some time to think about it.

_Wait! I don’t understand. What am I supposed to want?_

>>You already know what you want. It’s on the tip of your tongue. You need to give voice to the thoughts floating around. You have time.

A hundred seconds, a hundred years. Time meant very little in this place. He thought about what he wanted. He thought about it selfishly.

_I want Yusei to be happy….and I want to be the reason for that._

>>That’s good. You’ve done well. You and I are very similar, though I can’t help but notice the ways we aren’t the same.

_I’m sorry._

>>Don’t be. I’m glad you are your own person, with your own thoughts and desires. I lived a long life. It seemed unfair to burden you with all my bitterness and regret. We needed to face the future with hope, something my skepticism no longer allowed for. You became my hope. I know it was unfair to thrust such a burden on you, but I suppose I see in you too much of the person I used to be. 

_But… I died?_

>>I know. It was unfair of us, to bring you to life just to force you to die. I’d hoped there’d be a way of avoiding that, but it seems my concerns were ignored.

>>I look forward to speaking with you again.

His existence faded into the gentle crash of waves, the movement of water, head bobbing up and down, lodged between the rocks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please excuse the weird shit here. i am posting this fic before i have it fully plotted out because:  
> 1) some of the memes i reference may not be relevant anymore if i wait and  
> 2) i want to advertise my cat's instagram. his name is dave, i got him on craigslist, and he has been diagnosed with terminal stupid disease and also food allergies, which means i have to buy the super expensive cat food and then cry about how ludicrously expensive it is. https://www.instagram.com/blueschistdave/


	2. the best part of waking up is finding a dead body

Satellite, or the area formerly known as, was not known for its pretty beaches. No, its beaches were known for being a dumping ground for all the trash that washed up on Neo Domino’s beaches, and no amount of social upheaval was going to change that any time soon. Still, Yusei found comfort in walking here, and sometimes he even found things that were still usable. If he was bothered by something, he could usually take a walk along the scrap-ridden sands to clear his mind.

Tonight was one of those nights. He hadn’t been able to sleep— he'd woken up suddenly, his body hot, his forearm itchy and burning. Fucking mosquitoes again. It didn't help that he was slightly allergic, which just made it itchier (and just because he didn't see a bite right now didn't mean it wasn't there). Regardless, he hoped the chilly night air would soothe him, and at the very least it would get him away from the three mosquitoes that had been trapped in his house since last week's rain.

But he— he must really be tired, because did that piece of trash look like a hand? It was just a trick of the light. Oh god, no, that was definitely a hand. Should he call the cops? He needed to call the cops. Oh fuck. Finding a dead body at 2:24 in the morning was most definitely NOT conducive to a relaxing nighttime walk.

Yusei stepped closer, crouching to get a better look. The skin of the last two fingers was torn—almost completely off. But underneath wasn't bone or muscle—not exactly. It was built like a hand should be, but the texture was different. It wasn’t a real hand. Someone had lost their —admittedly very nice— prosthetic. Yusei would not need to call the cops after all (thank god).

And for reasons he didn’t really know (sleep deprivation, someone might need it, all rationalizations he made after the fact), he took it home.


	3. the only good cop is the one who quits being a cop to do autopsies instead, and even then they're on thin fucking ice

Yusei’s phone rang. He checked the caller. Ushio. “Yusei, you might want to come down to the station.”

“Um, am I in trouble?”

“No, no. If you were in trouble, I’d tell you upfront. This is… another matter. You probably want to see this.”

As a rule, Yusei didn’t trust cops. But he trusted Ushio, who wasn’t really a cop anymore anyway. He and Mikage both worked for the medical examiner’s office now. Considering that, they probably wanted to show him a dead body. Or something. But who would’ve died that they needed Yusei to identify? Aki, Crow, or Carly (if she was even in town) would be more appropriate. They knew more people, had more friends.

“Glad you came,” Ushio said. “This sort of thing is outside the usual scope of our office.”

He led Yusei to the autopsy room and stood to the side of the examiner’s table. Sitting in the middle, atop a white sheet, was a human head. 

Or, one that was meant to appear human. Like the hand Yusei had found several nights ago, the texture and color of the bones and muscle were off. The face appeared bloodless, the skin pale and waxy; pretty normal for a disembodied head that had been floating in the water. What wasn’t normal was the lack of decay, and even less normal were the wires sticking out from the exposed cervical vertebrae. Yeah. That was weird. The skin was torn in some parts, mostly near the neck and scalp. It seemed like the head had blue hair - though it was hard to tell with how dirty and matted the little that remained was.

“It washed up on the beach,” Ushio said, “Yusei, take a look at the eyes. Fish usually eat the eyeballs first.”

“The eyes and the penis,“ Mikage added blandly.

“That’s - that’s not even relevant right now! There’s not - whatever.” Ushio said quickly. “The eyes go first and well - here, they’re intact.” 

“Uh, okay,” Yusei said, “So you need my help… with what exactly?”

“Well, you know a lot about machinery and programming and stuff. If anyone could access the head’s memories and figure out what happened, it’s you,” Mikage said.

“I don’t— I have a job.”

“On your own time of course. It’s not urgent,” Ushio butted in, “Unfortunately, cases like this aren’t exactly considered a priority. We aren’t even allowed to create a case file for something like this.”

“Oh, okay,” Yusei said. “One question… how am I supposed to get this back to my home without, you know, looking like a murderer?”

*

Yusei didn’t have the time or the motivation to help Ushio with his little off-the-books investigation. He was tired—always tired—but something about it nagged at him. Any task he took on was soon eclipsed by thoughts of that human-inhuman head, and he’d immediately lose focus. He took to examining it in his spare time, hoping it would make the weird feeling in his stomach settle.

His first choice for extracting the head’s data, which would have been the easy way, didn’t seem to be an option. There was some sort of encryption that converted every file to goddamn wingdings, which, while funny, was not very informative.

His second option was to see if he could turn on the head somehow, though it seemed that without the rest of the body, it had no power source. Yusei took some spare wire and cobbled it together with the exposed wires that extended out of the head’s cervical vertebrae, and plugged it into the wall and… nothing happened. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy. 

Feeling unusually tired, Yusei got up and went to bed.


	4. diagnostics 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this story was originally about locked-in syndrome :) it isn’t any more :))) but it still contains elements from that initial draft :))))))

dreaming...big city. shouting. why fix existing problems when you can just blame machines? dreaming…

Assessment: damage to right eye. waterlogged. no range of movement. unable to send or receive impulses from body. Blurry vision in right eye. consciousness switched off.

dreaming...total war. anguish. dreaming… acid rain. a brick. blood.

Yusei.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'did this bitch just blatantly rip off the speaking style of the robots in elder scrolls online: clockwork city?' 
> 
> yeah. i did. 
> 
> (if you did not realize i was blatantly ripping off dialogue from an elder scrolls game, then please forget about this and carry on with your day, but if you want to hear me bitch about characters in the tes series, please by all means message me because BOY do i have some shit to say. also todd howard should hire me. thank u for reading)


	5. how detroit became human... idk i haven't played the game

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel the need to point out that aki/yusei is more of background to the other listed pairing. its not the focus. 
> 
> also they're both bi because i said so

More body parts washed up. They all seemed to be from the same body. If Yusei wasn’t the one to find them, then Ushio made sure they’d end up with him anyway. 

Yusei had been having weird dreams again, but when he woke up he always forgot what they were about. He parsed through the notepad files he’d been able to download from the head, which were filled with indecipherable strings of letters that took forever to scroll through.

Buried in the middle, a filepath to somewhere in the documents folder? He sincerely doubted it was referencing a file on his computer, but when he copied and pasted the link, it took him to a folder that he’d never before noticed. Inside was a single audio recording.

_Yusei… I remember now. Who I am, why I’m here. I remember everything._

Bruno’s voice. Had he… had Bruno left this for him? And on his desktop no less. Why did it take five years to find? 

_I’m…. I’m sorry for what’s about to happen. I wish there was another way. I never intended to deceive you._

And in those five years, there was no guarantee Yusei would have even held on to that same desktop. The thought of that filled Yusei with a bit of retroactive panic. Sure, he hadn’t gotten rid of the computer yet, but he had certainly thought of doing so a couple times! 

_All I want is to be able to stay here, with you and everyone else as well. I… I love you Yusei._

Bruno’s voice cracked. Yusei could imagine him, sitting at the desk in Poppo Time, teeth grit as he tried to choke out the words. 

_I wish I could have remained ignorant of everything. Am I truly human? How much of me, of what I feel, is genuine? Was everything— my actions, my thoughts, my feelings— just an act of programming? Everything we did together, as friends, was it all preordained? I look at what I am about to do, and I want to back out, but I can’t. Yusei, I’m so sorry._

Yusei had, of course, kept Bruno’s desktop. There was no way he could get rid of it. He’d even set it up next to his own computer… just for familiarity’s sake.

_I want to tell you everything. I wish I could remain by your side forever. I love you so much._

When the recording finished, Yusei could barely breathe. Using his sleeves he fiercely rubbed the tears from his eyes, pausing only when he caught a glimpse of the disembodied head on the side of his desk near the wall. Its grey eyes were dull and unfocused, but it didn’t take much for Yusei to imagine them when they were vivid and full of life. The facial shape, the bluish hair— how did he not see it before?

Yusei reached out, placing a hand on Bruno’s cheek. Skin, blood, just what made this body tick? For a synthetic being, the components were very true to their human counterparts. Yusei was adept at the anatomy of machines, but as to the workings of the human body he only knew the basics. He would need help. 

He found the right contact in his phone and dialed her number. It rang once before picking up. “Yusei, it’s 3 in the morning,” Aki complained.

“Yes, but you were already awake.”

“Ha ha, smartass. What is it?”

“When are you free this week?”

“You can’t schedule a date night at 3 in the morning.”

“There’s no rule saying that I can’t,” Yusei said, unable to keep the smile from his voice.

“There is now because I just made it up.”

“Ok sure, so when are you free?”

“Not for a while. I’ve got exams coming up. You know that. AND I have to be at the lab every other night it seems like.” She groaned. “Can’t you just come to me this time?”

“No, it’s gotta be at my place,” he replied.

“Oh? What do you have planned, then?”

“Don’t get your hopes up, I just have a nicer TV.”

“Pffft,” she snickered. “In a couple of weeks my schedule should clear up a little, would that work?”

“Yeah, that’s perfect. See you then, Aki.”


	6. There are things in this world that we will never fully understand [understand]. We want answers. We have worked years to build our credibility, our reputation. Working alongside the most renowned professionals in the field. Catching gr

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, the original outline of this story was as a body horror/sci-fi/medical drama sort of thing that explored locked-in syndrome and philosophical questions regarding brain death, medical ethics, and bodily autonomy (except bruno was not brain dead and very much wanted to be alive in that draft, but yusei and aki did not know that)

“So what’s the occasion?” Aki smirked, hands on her hips. 

“You can’t tell  _ anyone. _ ”

“I’m being sworn to secrecy? Must be really important, then,” she joked.

When Yusei didn’t reply, she grew concerned. “Yusei? Is something the matter?”

Yusei massaged his temples. “I have no idea how to explain this in a way that doesn’t sound absolutely fucking insane.”

“It can’t be  _ that  _ crazy. I mean, the dark signers stuff? That was crazy. It can’t be _that_ bad, right?”

Yusei gave a small smile. “That’s true… But it would probably be easier if I just showed you,” he said, motioning for her to follow him into the main room of the apartment.

“Is it some new project you’re working on? You know I’m not that handy,” she began, but gasped when she saw the partially-assembled body.

“Body parts have been washing up on the beach. It resembles a human, but-” 

“But not quite,” she said, examining one of the hands. “Hm, how strange. The tissues are almost completely synthetic yet functionally identical to what would be found in an organic body. This is waaay beyond current reconstructive technology.”

“Aki, we  _ know _ him. It’s Bruno.”

Aki glanced back at the form currently suspended by wires. “I figured as much. I do remember you saying something about him not being fully human.”

“You’re studying medicine, you know far more about how the human body works than I do… I can only help him so much. I don’t want to fuck it up. He needs more than I am capable of giving… Ligaments and blood vessels… he has an artificial cardiovascular system! I don’t even know what kind of blood he needs, if he needs it at all.”

“Where are you going to get the blood?”

“I dunno, the darknet? You can pretty much buy anything off of there.”

“You’re going to buy blood off the darknet,” she said, her voice completely flat.

“What? You want me to rob a blood bank? Like some sort of… crimelord vampire? Use your brain, Aki.”

“I am using it, unfortunately. You know, there are reconstructive therapies that involve 3D printing soft tissues and even organs. Oh my god, we’re frankensteining it. We’re literally fucking frankensteining it. This is crazy.”

“I  _ told _ you it was crazy! So you’ll help me?”

“Yeah, I mean Bruno was my friend, too,” Aki said, “But you’re buying dinner this time.”

“I figured.” 

She leaned against his arm. “I want thai.”

*

“Aki…” Yusei began, in between bites of curry, “what if he doesn’t want to be alive? What if by doing this we’re just making him suffer?”

“Uh, I mean, he can always die again?”

“I don’t think I’d be able to handle that,” Yusei said. 

“No,” Aki agreed, “you wouldn't.”

“Well thanks for that vote of confidence.”

“What? I  _ have  _ placed my confidence in you… My confidence that you would absolutely not be able to handle it.”

“Just... is what I’m doing - what I am asking you to do - is it all selfish? Am I doing this for him or for me?”

“I can’t answer that question for you, Yusei. But… from what you’ve told me, the Bruno that  _ we  _ know, the one we’re putting back together, never actually  _ lived _ through that future. He was created then, but all his memories of that time were someone else’s — the real person he was based on. The memories he recovered weren’t his own direct experiences. Looking at it that way — his only lived experiences were those he had with  _ us _ .”

“That’s very philosophical of you… maybe you should change your area of study?”

“Ideally, I would like to be employable after I graduate.”

Aki was right, though. Bruno had been sent here with a specific purpose — one that was hard-wired into his being. Was it a purpose that  _ he  _ truly believed in, one which he had no ability to fight against, or both? Did  _ their  _ Bruno, the one who had been created just to die, ever have a chance to truly live?

*

Later that night, Aki lay awake next to Yusei. She had never slept well next to others, no matter her relationship with them. She grabbed her shirt from the floor, pulled it over her head. She felt drawn to downstairs, where Bruno was, her curiosity overpowering her. She looked up at his unfamiliar frame, devoid of flesh.

One of his hands twitched. Aki quickly looked back up at his face, but found no visible recognition. “... You’re awake, aren’t you?”

His hand twitched again.

“You just need to be put back together,” she said to the unresponsive Bruno. “... Just like Humpty Dumpty…” She imagined Bruno would be indignant about the comparison.

Aki sighed. This was going to be a lot of work, and probably a lot of, um, “borrowing” things from the lab. It was too bad she wouldn’t be able to put this on her resume.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bruno is not dead and technically never was in this story. blah blah blah yugioh magic or whatever


	7. diagnostics 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as much as i also hate to acknowledge it, the geography of yugioh 5ds makes the most sense if neo domino is in the americas. i mean they literally drive to peru (and then rACE mOtOrCyCLEs oN tHe nAZcA LiNEs??? a prOTeCtEd wOrLD hEriTaGe sITE?????). and also crash town is very literally new mexico/west texas/arizona. so if the story taking place in the US bothers you then thats alright, i understand because it bothers me too, but not as much as the thought of riding a motorcycle from japan to south america (and then riding ur motorcylce on the fucking nazca lines) does. 
> 
> also this story draws heavily from the shit currently happening in my country (you guessed it. the fucking united states of plagueland). not just the pandemic and the BLM protests, but also how the political system is rigged to favor the ultra rich and how the government serves the interests of corporations and not the people and that something needs to change. if it helps, i imagine 5DS as happening about 60 years after DM/GX and the future that Bruno is from is the logical projection of what my country will be like in a couple decades. yay!!! anyway, part of this story is just me trying to cope with the present times :)

red brick, red blood. revolution came too late. when the rich fled to their bunkers it was already too late. when the stories changed in the news it was already too late. it was too late when illness took them all. every second counts. time is money. every second is another billion earned. time is money, best put a stop to it early. 

a brick, thrown by the private militia. a skull to receive the brick. a brain to hemorrhage. a life to snuff out.

. . . someone there to witness it.

-

He tried to inhale, but could not. No air would enter his lungs. His chest contracted only for his lungs to flatten in on themselves. Was this what it felt like to be swallowed by a black hole? 

Hm. He was the first person _to be_ swallowed by a black hole, which was kind of cool! It was totally uncharted territory for humankind… oh, but he wasn’t a person. That was still new information to him. It would take some getting used to.

The pressure on his chest was unbearable. It was going to tear out his trachea. He couldn’t - he couldn't —

Bruno gasped awake.“He’s trying to fight the ventilator! Hold him down while I increase the sedative.”

A pair of arms pushed him back onto the surface he was laying on. He opened his eyes, and was alarmed when he saw Yusei, who was not supposed to be in the black hole with him. 

“It’s gonna be ok.” Yusei was leaning over him, a concerned expression on his face. Bruno noticed his surroundings, which were conspicuously _not_ a black hole. He looked back at Yusei. With what little strength he could muster, he grabbed Yusei’s hand and passed back out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eat the rich :))))


	8. oundbreaking proof of the paranormal. This is our evidence, our Ghost Adventures.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ghost adventures is a universal constant. i do not make the rules

Bruno woke again, this time warm and on a soft surface. The TV was on in the background, Jack’s voice emanating from it. The interviewer had asked him about some trap card he used in a duel, and Jack was explaining his reasoning using a bizarre analogy about how frogs are just turtles without shells, “kinda like slugs and snails, yeah? Everyone knows they’re the same animal, one just has a shell and the other doesn’t. It’s simple biology.”

“I can’t watch this. It is actually, physically causing me pain,” he heard Yusei say, “How does he always manage to say the stupidest shit possible?”

“I think it’s entertaining,” Aki said, “He’s just so confident about it! It’s admirable.”

“He’s not even that dumb. He just says things... and doesn’t stop saying them.”

Yusei’s voice was close. If Yusei just said things and never stopped, Bruno didn’t think he’d mind that much.

“Oh! I think he’s waking up.”

Bruno opened his eyes to see Yusei looking down at him again. 

“Um. Hi,” said Yusei.

Bruno sat up and rubbed one of his eyes. He had been laying on the couch, wrapped in a comforter, his head resting in Yusei’s lap. 

“How are you feeling?” Aki asked.

His tongue felt heavy. His words came out stilted. “How am I here?”

Yusei and Aki gave each other sideways glances. “Uh, well, it’s kind of complicated, and—”

“No. How am I _here_?”

“We don’t actually know,” Yusei answered, “body parts were washing up on the shores and after a while I realized they belonged to you... If you would have preferred we left you as you were then I am really, really sorry,” Yusei added, “I remembered what you said and-”

“No, I’m glad to be here. I just… need to process everything.”

“We managed to scrounge up some clothes that will _probably_ fit you. Maybe,” Aki said. “If you’re up for it, we can go shopping tomorrow so you can have more than just one shirt.”

“Have I been naked this whole time?” Bruno buried his face in his hands. “How embarrassing…”

Aki just shrugged. “See enough penises in a medical context and they kind of lose their novelty,” she said before leaving the room.

Bruno pressed his face into his hands harder. “Oh my _godddd,_ ” he groaned.

Yusei handed him a t-shirt and a pair of plaid sleep pants and politely turned his head so Bruno could change. 

The silence stretched for an awkward minute. It had always been easy for Bruno to talk to Yusei; now, he was at a loss for words. Instead, he just stared at Yusei. He was a little older than the last time Bruno saw him, a little taller, a little more muscular, a little more unkempt. It was nice.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m just...taking it all in.”

“Oh, okay.”

Yusei informed him that he’d be sleeping on the couch tonight (“It’s a pull-out couch, so basically a bed.”) Aki brought him food (“It’s best to just eat saltines for now, you’ve only been functional for six hours and anything heavier might make you sick.”) They both made him drink water, and when Aki retired for the night she went upstairs alone and when Bruno looked at Yusei expecting him to also go upstairs he informed him that no, he would be sleeping downstairs, on the couch that Bruno would also be sleeping on, which made his newly active biosynthetic heart beat maybe a little bit faster, but he totally played it cool.

“Yeah, Aki hates sharing a bed with anyone,” Yusei said while moving the coffee table out of the way, “Makes her uncomfortable.”

“Some people just like to sleep alone.”

“I’m not one of them.” They unfolded the couch; Yusei spread the comforter over it. He yawned as he lay back down. “Are you even tired?”

“Not really, no. Can I watch TV?”

“Yeah.”

“It won’t keep you up?”

Yusei shook his head.

Bruno flipped the channel to Ghost Adventures. There was only six inches of space between him and Yusei. Zak and the crew were investigating some sort of hotel. Bruno adjusted his pillow. Five inches between himself and Yusei. The Ghost Adventures crew broke out the spirit box to see if any spirits were trying to communicate. [unintelligible woman’s voice] [muffled male voice saying “hey”] [anomaly detected] [anomaly detected] [anomaly detected] 

Bruno dreamt of dancing stick figures and ghosts. The face in the mirror changed and spoke back to him. [you are allowed to do things for yourself] The voice faded into static.

He woke up nauseated, stumbled around until he found the bathroom, and threw up in the sink. When he turned on the light to rinse the sink out, his reflection surprised him. His hair was so short, barely reaching past his ears. Bruno didn’t consider himself vain, but _yikes_. He’d felt that his hair was shorter since waking up, but actually _seeing_ it like that was different. Yikes!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> k so unrelated anecdote time: a dude who i was friends with but had no interest in dating ever literally wrote a series of friend zone poems about me. then he READ those friend zone poems publicly at a poetry reading in a bar while I sat in the audience. he prefaced the friend zone poems by reading a letter vincent van gogh wrote about being rejected. this is one of the reasons I fucking hate men.
> 
> the worst part is i considered this guy my friend. i rejected him in the nicest way possible, because he was my FRIEND. men are garbage and i'm throwing the lot of them out


	9. [the entirety of lenny kravitz's song 'black velveteen']

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [black velveteen don't give a damn she'll do dishes  
>  black velveteen knows all the night spots in france  
>  black velveteen's [cat] smells like strawberry kittens  
>  black velveteen always is ready to dance](https://youtu.be/KDu0n0VjbZY)
> 
> bruno has an identity crisis while getting a handjob

Aki went home early sunday morning, leaving Yusei and Bruno to their own devices. Conversation still wasn’t coming easy for the two of them, and Bruno wondered if it was his fault, somehow. Yusei was already a man of few words, so the silence seemed to be even more pronounced in comparison. 

He wouldn’t go so far as to say Yusei was giving him the silent treatment (Yusei was not that kind of person). It was just that, when Yusei was more reticent than usual, it tended to mean that something was bothering him.

“Yusei, are you-“

“It’s nothing.”

“There’s something you want to say.”

Yusei inhaled through grit teeth. “You used me to kill yourself! I- how am I supposed to be okay with that? How did you _expect_ me to be okay after that? You _made_ me kill you!”

“...I… I _chose_ to die, Yusei. It was me or you… I chose you.” Bruno couldn’t meet his friend’s eyes.

“Because _you_ set it up that way.”

“Yes… I won’t deny that. I wish I hadn’t, but there wasn’t anything else I could do.”

“You could have— I dunno— _not_ done that? Literally anything else?”

“I’m not even a person, Yusei, why does it matter? Nothing about me is authentic. I’m just a copy of a dead man. And not even a good one, since my only purpose was to meet you and die! I don’t have my own personality, I don’t have my own thoughts. Everything was just programmed into me!”

Yusei looked angry. “You’re a person because other people see you as a person, whether you like it or not. And as a person, you mattered to _me_.”

Bruno didn’t respond. 

“I tried to get you to come with me, but you refused.”

“We both would’ve died.”

“Shouldn’t that have been up to _me_?”

Bruno looked down. “I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I caused your death.”

“How do you think I felt, then?” Yusei responded, “the people I love always fucking die because of me! Aki is the only one left, and I’m constantly afraid that something catastrophic is going to happen to her at any moment, because that just seems to be the natural order of things!”

Bruno turned to face him, his brows knitted into a troubled expression. “Yusei, I-I’m alive right now because of _you_! You-you found me, and you pieced me back together, and-”

“Yes, but _I’m_ the reason you HAD to be put back together!”

“That’s not true! I put you in that position!” Bruno shouted. His voice felt vicious and raw with self-loathing: “Stop hating yourself for what you did when you should hate _me_ for making you do it!”

Yusei frowned. “Bruno, I couldn’t… even for that.”

“Why not? Isn’t the whole situation my fault? You guys knew me as an excellent programmer, yet I couldn’t even override my _own_ programming. I couldn’t even tell it was there! If I had… if I had just remembered things _earlier_ I could’ve—“

“Bruno…”

“And now, I still don’t know how much of me was real and how much was just programmed into me! How many of the memories I think are mine are really someone else’s? What about my emotions, are they really my own? Was I meant to simply be a carbon copy of my predecessor?” He swallowed, feeling his mind flood with uncertainty: “...Am I?”

Yusei hugged him. He spoke into Bruno’s shoulder. “I don’t know, but… you have time now, to figure those things out. Time that you can use to make new memories, ones that are uniquely your own. I know that sounds cheesy, but…”

Bruno looked away, feeling his face grow warm. “Ah… you always know exactly what to say, don't you? I… I have a _future_ now.”

Yusei ended the hug but didn’t take his hands off Bruno, even as they sat down on the couch. “Yeah. You can do whatever you want with your life.”

“Rob a bank.”

“Not that.”

Bruno couldn’t keep himself from smiling. He wanted to touch Yusei again. He wanted Yusei to touch him back. Bruno wrapped his arms around Yusei’s neck and maneuvered himself so his legs were across Yusei’s lap. 

Bruno’s expression was soft. “In my last moments of awareness in the arc cradle, I allowed myself to envision the future you would make possible,” he said quietly, “and while at the time I thought it was just fantasy… I also imagined myself in that future, together with you…”

Yusei tilted Bruno’s head down into a short kiss. “Y’know, whenever I thought about the future, I always imagined you in it, as well. Back then, when you... well, I gave up on it. But you’re here!”

Bruno leant back until he was lying flat on the sofa, pulling Yusei down with him. “Yusei, I…” he began quietly, but was unable to finish his sentence due to his mouth having much better things to do (“better things,” of course, referring to “making out with Yusei”).

Yusei’s hands were on his thighs, gripping his ass, caressing his stomach underneath his shirt. He wasn’t keeping track of any of it, focusing instead on how Yusei’s touch set his skin alight.

Yusei unzipped Bruno’s jeans, one hand moving to Bruno’s dick and the other squeezing his ass with a strength that had Bruno seeing stars.

“God, Yusei...just—“ If Bruno could spend the rest of his artificial life touching Yusei like this, he’d be— No, oh wait, there it was - _artificial_ \- he wasn’t—

He pushed Yusei off of him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Yusei, I’m not human,” he said.

“That doesn’t bother me. You’re human in the ways that count.”

“It bothers _me_.” He sat up, putting distance between himself and Yusei. “It’s not your fault,” Bruno said quickly, before Yusei could respond.

Yusei looked confused. He didn’t understand. He _couldn’t_ understand. Bruno barely understood it himself! It was a strange thing, to wholeheartedly believe oneself to be human and then to have that humanity instantly stripped away; not by any action but by _mere fact of being_. Bruno had taken it for granted; that it was an irrefutable fact that he was a living being of flesh and blood, just like everyone else. Being human wasn’t even something that one could typically take for granted; it was such an ingrained fact of life for everyone. Bruno doubted anyone else had to grapple with this in the way that he currently had to; to become so acutely aware of the state of one’s humanness, only to deal with the horror of never having it at all.

“It’s just— I can’t explain it,” he conceded, “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to explain anything! It’s- it’s alright. I’m here to listen if you need me to.”

“O-of course.”

Yusei ran his fingers through the hair on the side of Bruno’s head. “God, you really do look weird with the shorter hair.”

Bruno smiled halfheartedly. “You think so?”

“Yeah. It’s different. Sorry we couldn’t salvage it.”

“Aki said something about it growing back? If so, that’s incredible. I have no idea how y'all were able to get everything so… detailed.”

“Aki is the one to thank for all of that. She really did a lot.” 

Yusei scooted over so they sat shoulder-to-shoulder, his hand still in Bruno’s hair. Bruno lowered his head to meet Yusei.

“You feeling better?” Yusei asked.

“Only sort of, but I’m up for it. Maybe not on the couch though.”

Yusei helped him up. “Bedroom, then. Let me grab a towel and I’ll be right there.”

“Ooh, sexy.”

“I just washed my sheets. I don’t wanna do it again.”

Bruno buried his laughter in Yusei’s hair.

*

The conversation hadn’t gone how Yusei expected. Well, he didn’t know _what_ he had expected out of that conversation, he’d just wanted Bruno to realize the toll of his actions (and maybe, a sick part of him wanted Bruno to feel bad). Bruno was asleep now, arm slung across Yusei’s waist. His hair was stuck up with sweat, and he drooled blissfully onto one of Yusei’s pillows. It was… cute, and Yusei felt a sudden rush of fondness for him.

Yet Bruno didn’t even think of himself as a person. Not since the arc cradle. He saw no value in his own existence beyond what he could do for others. If Yusei was in danger, Bruno would just as soon throw his life away again. Yusei reached over and smoothed out his hair.

“Yusei…” Bruno cracked an eye open. “Come to sleep.” He reached for one of Yusei’s hands. “Come on.”

Yusei shifted until he was lying eye-level with Bruno. Bruno smiled sleepily back at him and snuggled closer. Yusei felt the other man’s breathing even out, and he exhaled.

“...I found your audio recording,” Yusei began quietly. Bruno did not stir. “Back then, I felt the same way, but now - I don’t know. I do, still, but I don’t know. Your death changed a lot of things for me.”

And just because Bruno was alive again didn’t mean those things would change back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have no interest in writing sex that’s actually sexy.
> 
> things aren't all sunshines and roses just bc bruno is alive. i mean, he pretty much used Yusei as a proxy to commit suicide, and thats fucked up and selfish!!! imagine the anguish if someone you cared about jumped in front of your vehicle as you were speeding down a roadway, and you'd have to live with the belief that YOU were the one who killed them, even though its technically not ur fault. Yusei SHOULD be mad. but you ALSO have to think about... did Bruno even have agency in the act? anyway.


	10. diagnostics 4

he was drenched in blood. was it his own or-?

no no no no no. it wasn’t- not like-  
blood hair matted brick brain bone

he cradled his partner in his arms. he didn’t know what to do. the men in tactical gear advanced. someone pulled him by the collar. he didn’t know what to do. he didn’t know what to do.

they weren’t a part of this. they had just been walking. someone screamed. the men in tactical gear advanced. he cradled his partner’s body.

“Come on!” someone tugged him up by the collar. he lost grip of his partner’s hand. he was pulled forward by the stranger, away from the riot gear.

the news would blame machines.


	11. the boyfriend of my boyfriend is my friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love aki

On weekdays, Bruno was mostly alone to do whatever he wanted. Yusei worked 8-4, and oftentimes would be gone before Bruno even woke up. Bruno felt like a bit of a freeloader, living in Yusei’s home and eating his food and watching daytime television. He’d taken to browsing freelance job boards in the last couple of days, and had even applied for a couple, but it was hard when he didn’t have any provable job experience. He couldn’t exactly put “I’m from the future” on his resume, could he?

The doorbell rang. Bruno put the borrowed laptop down on the couch and went to go check who it was.

It was Aki. She’d brought lunch.

“Sorry, but Yusei isn’t here right now.”

“I know that,” she said, “why would I bring Yusei lunch? He can feed himself. This is for you.” She walked past Bruno into the kitchen.

“Um, thanks,” he said, following her, “wait, so you’re saying that I _can’t_ feed myself?”

Aki shrugged. “I’m just saying that if we were in a paleolithic hunter-gatherer society, you wouldn’t be a hunter. Or a gatherer, for that matter.”

“That’s so mean! You don’t know that!” Bruno said. He watched Aki unpack the food she brought. “I think I would make an _excellent_ gatherer, for the record.”

“Considering that you didn’t even ask what I brought before you started eating it, I highly doubt you’d be a good gatherer.”

Bruno set his fork down. “It’s- it’s _food!_ Why would I expect any different?”

“You don’t know that. What if it’s just an array of poisons that look like food?”

“Y-you’d poison me?”

“No. But in the wild, sometimes things that are poisonous look like things that aren’t,” she stated. “Anyway, how are you faring? Is everything working as it should?”

It took Bruno a minute to realize she was asking about the body. “Um yeah, at least so far. It’s been working pretty much like a real body should, I think.”

Aki made a small noise of approval and continued to eat her lunch. Bruno felt increasingly awkward. He admittedly hadn’t spent a lot of time with Aki the first time around. There was always the underlying feeling that they were trying to occupy the same niche in Yusei’s life, and—

_Oh my god,_ he thought, _she’s dating Yusei_. Which made Bruno the figurative other woman in this situation. Oh god.

Bruno set down his utensil. “Aki… I am so sorry. I didn’t know. Well, I kind of did but I wasn’t really thinking at the time and I also didn’t really want to think about it at the time but I am so so sorry.”

Aki furrowed her brow, her hand paused in the middle of spearing a piece of chicken on her fork. “Um…. what.” she said flatly, “did you… kill somebody?”

“No.” Bruno hung his head in shame. “I slept with Yusei.”

Aki furrowed her brow even more. “Uh, okay. Congrats...?”

“You’re not mad?”

“I mean, it’s pretty much what I expected to happen.”

“But Yusei is your boyfriend.”

“Yeah.”

“I slept with _your boyfriend_.”

“Uh. We aren’t like, exclusive or anything.” At Bruno’s silence, Aki continued: “I’m not a touchy-feely person, I can’t really give Yusei the physical intimacy he needs. I’m fine if he gets that from someone else. Besides, I know how he felt about you.”

“What?”

“He was really broken up about your death… It took a couple of years before he started to really move on. It was very obvious in hindsight that there was something going on between you two.”

Bruno looked down at his hands. “ _Oh_.”

“He stopped eating,” Aki said, “Me and Crow took turns bringing him food to make sure he at least ate _something_.”

“I… see.”

Aki looked over at him. “Sorry, I shouldn’t be telling you things that will only hurt you. It’s not like you can do anything about it now.”

“No… it’s fine. I deserve it,” he said. “...At the time, I was so confused. All these memories had come flooding back to me… I didn’t know where they fit… I couldn’t parse through them fast enough for anything to make sense. The only thing I knew for sure was that I wasn’t— that nothing about my life was real. Sacrificing myself, it was... it was the only choice I had to make any of it mean anything.”

“You could have reached out to any of us. We would’ve been glad to help.”

“I didn’t have time to think of any better options. It was the one I was presented with at the moment.” Bruno paused to think. “It was _programmed into_ me. I’m not even sure I had the ability to consider other choices, let alone had the ability to want to.”

“Is it really a choice if you’re not allowed to want anything else?”

“That’s exactly it.”

“But you still feel guilty about it.”

He took a shuddering breath. “Yes.”

Aki patted his back soothingly.

a couple days later, Aki texted Bruno’s new phone:

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls excuse the month-old meme. whats important is that *I* think its funny.
> 
> i've been working on editing and submitting original fiction. it is actually incredibly hard to cut a 9000 word story down to only 7500 words, but I did it. 
> 
> i mostly write body horror. my newest concept for a story involves an internet community of people who deliberately infect themselves with botflies as like a fetish thing. it is still in the very early stages, mostly because the research i'll have to do is... questionable. i'm probably already on like, three fbi watch lists after searching 'dissolve human flesh with drano' so yeah.


	12. remember that david cronenberg film? about the gynecologists who are identical twins and one of them gets heavy into prescription meds and starts having fucked up dreams? this chapter has literally nothing to do with that

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter named bc i use the term 'dead ringer' at some point and 'dead ringers' is the name of the david cronenberg movie
> 
> also crow is a social worker

At four-thirty PM, Yusei got a surprise video call from Crow.

“Dude, it’s been like, 40 years since we’ve talked. You been busy?”

“It has been a while,” Yusei agreed. “Sorry about that. Guess I got too caught up in work. Sorry for the silence.”

“You should be! I was this close to thinking you had died!” Crow indicated a tiny amount with his fingers. “At _least_ respond to the group chat, dude.”

“I keep that muted,” Yusei said.

“You don’t have to respond timely! Just look at your phone every once in a……” Crow trailed off, eyes slowly tracking the movement of something across his screen. “Um, Yusei, who was that who just walked by?”

Yusei glanced behind himself. In the kitchen, he could see Bruno gathering spices and ingredients for dinner. “Oh um, that’s…”

“You seriously went out and found someone who looks exactly like Bruno? What the hell?”

Yusei struggled to find words to explain everything. “Um, well, it’s…”

“That's just weird and creepy, Yusei. I know you miss him but that’s just too far. I mean, it’s been five years man, someday you gotta accept that he’s dead, and trying to replace him with somebody else is just unfair to everyone involved.”

“Crow, that’s not…” Yusei turned around in his chair, “Hey! Can you come over here for a second?” he shouted into the kitchen.

Bruno walked over to the computer and leaned down so he was in the webcam’s view. “Hi Crow.”

“Oh my god, he’s a dead ringer. That’s almost scary. Yusei, I know I’ve suggested it before, but have you thought about grief counseling?”

“Crow, this _is_ Bruno. We found him and we, um… helped him recover.”

“I was surprised too!” Bruno chimed in, “but I am very happy to be back here again.” He pulled up a chair and sat down, leaning in so he and Yusei would both be in view of the webcam. 

“You’re fucking with me right now,” Crow said, “...You’re not fucking with me. My god. Is that really you?”

“Yep!”

“Well fuck. That’s amazing. What have you been up to, Bruno?”

“Not much, mostly getting used to being alive again. Doing freelance coding here and there, helping out with the rent where I can.”

“You do more than ‘help out,’ Bruno,” Yusei added.

Crow spoke hesitantly, eyes narrowed in thought: "Being alive again? So you _were_ dead, then?"

“I guess you could say that." Bruno glanced back towards the kitchen. "I didn’t know you were going to call,” he said, “I was about to start dinner. I would have done it earlier if I knew.”

“It’s ok, we’ll just get takeout,” Yusei said.

“You sure?”

“And how’s Aki doing? I was hoping she’d be around.”

“Well she’s in med school, so she’s really busy.”

“Not too busy to send me memes,” added Bruno.

“Oh fuck, you have a phone? What’s your number? I’m gonna add you to our meme chat.”

“...Meme chat?”

“Yeah, maybe you can get Yusei to actually participate. He’s so boring! I added him but he never contributes. We mostly just dunk on Jack and Kiryu.”

“Kiryu?”

“He’s Yusei’s, uh, ex-b......best friend from when we were kids. We used to run around and do stupid shit.”

“Huh.” Bruno paused. “Yusei _is_ pretty boring though.”

“What?!” he squawked, "I am not!"

“You never want to go out and do things,” Bruno stated.

“You never tell me where you want to go.”

“I don’t want to inconvenience you, you always seem so tired.”

Yusei and Bruno became absorbed in their own miniature argument. At the other end of the line, Crow cleared his throat awkwardly. “Um, hello? I’m still here?”

“Uh, sorry,” Yusei said. “Anyway, enough about us, how have you been, Crow?” 

“Oh, y’know, the usual. Same old shit. People reuniting with their kids, people getting their kids taken away, people _not_ getting their kids taken away when they probably should.”

“Sounds depressing.”

“It is, but it’s important. Kids can’t really advocate for themselves so someone's gotta do it,” he said. He held a piece of paper in front of the camera. “Anyway, look at what one of the kids drew for me.” Across the top of the page, in messy handwriting, was written "THANK U KROW," and beneath that was a series of stick figures, one of which had an orange scribble on its head. 

"Well that one's obviously you," Yusei said.

"Yeah, and the small ones are him and his sister, and I think the two others are his aunt and uncle, who adopted them? We've been helping the family with resources, helping the kids adjust to their new home..."

Bruno turned to Yusei. "I know you said we could order out, but some of the vegetables will go bad if I don't use them tonight," he said. He turned back to the webcam: "It's great to see you, Crow. Just send me a text message and I'll add your number."

Crow watched Bruno retreat to the kitchen. "He was _dead?_ " Crow repeated, eyes narrowed. "What the fuck did you do? Don't you think that's a little unethical?" He kept his voice low, but Yusei could still detect the incredulity there.

"I don't really get it, either. Technically, his body was consumed by a black hole. By the laws of physics he shouldn't-- there should have been _nothing_ left. Trust me, Crow, I didn't set out to intentionally revive him. It just _happened_."

"You can't accidentally bring someone back from the dead," Crow deadpanned.

"Listen, Crow; body parts were washing up on the beach-"

"That's... terrifying."

"They weren't real, they were synthetic. The Sector Security medical examiner's asked me to retrieve data from the head."

"Okay..." Crow prompted him to continue.

"But it was-- it was _him_. Bruno."

Crow thought for a moment. "But there should've been nothing left of him, you just said..."

"Exactly. I have no clue how he could've escaped that."

"Aaand now you're fucking him."

Yusei nodded. "And now I'm fucking him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey if you like ygo gx and stan gx's resident goth boy i am also writing stories featuring him


	13. diagnostics 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warning for implications of past child sexual abuse, nothing explicit is mentioned.
> 
> in this chapter we find out exactly who Bruno is in relation to the human he supposedly was.

Bruno looked around. He was back in the darkness.

>>Z-ONE wanted to place my full consciousness in you. That you would merely be a replacement for my body, and I would live on.

_...You mean I’m not? _

>>No. I lived my life. I was fine with dying. Unlike Z-ONE, I had no hope for changing the future. The whole thing was pointless. I still don’t believe things have truly changed.

>>I acknowledged what the others didn’t want to see, which was that humanity ended itself. Forget synchro summoning, momentum; those were just tools, convenient excuses parroted by corporations and their puppet governments. And we let it happen.

_ If there’s nothing that can be done, why did you let the others think they could change the future?  _

>>Sometimes, hope is all that you have. Who was I to take that from them?

_ So why are you telling me any of this?  _

>>You deserve an explanation. You became both a creation and a casualty of this battle. Despite my bitterness… I felt guilty. You are my fault. My responsibility.

>>I did not want my mind to be uploaded into the new body. I wanted simply to die and get things over with. So I… tampered with Z-ONE’s technology. My mind and body would die, and the new one he built would remain as it was, an empty shell.

>>Because of that, during the download process, my consciousness split. I did not die as I’d wanted. I remained as I am, but the part that split off became  _ you _ , a whole new iteration of my existence. A version of myself that wasn’t left jaded and hopeless by experience. I could have ended us both, but...

_ It’s you. You’re my predecessor. You’ve been with me this whole time. The memories I have… _

>>Yes, they’re mine.

His existence faded into reality, the firm mattress, the duvet, the city lights that filtered in through the window, the sound of cars on the roadway, Yusei snoring.

But behind his eyelids there was smoke and rubble, anger and anguish. Behind his eyelids were reminders of the bitter fatalism of his predecessor, who was conscious and a part of him.

Bruno would not be falling back asleep tonight. He quietly got out of bed and tiptoed down the stairs.

Aki was sitting up on the couch watching TV. “You’re still awake?” he said quietly.

“No, I’m sleeping with my eyes open. I could ask the same of you.”

“Can I sit with you?”

Aki scooted over to give him more room. Bruno grabbed a blanket and sat down. “What’re you watching?”

“Mostly infomercials. Not much else to watch right now.”

They sat in silence for a moment. A man on the TV spoke enthusiastically about a 'masculinity-enhancing' diet supplement.

“...Can I ask a bit of a personal question?” Bruno began. Aki turned her head slightly to indicate she was listening. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, of course,” he added awkwardly.

“Fire away.”

“Really? Um… Why don’t you like sleeping next to other people?”

Aki didn’t say anything for a while. “When I was a kid, my parents couldn’t handle me. Eventually, they wrote me off as a lost cause, that I was beyond help. They handed me off to an organization that claimed to specialize in that sort of thing. They thought it would help me, make me normal. But it was basically a cult.

“The adults who ran the place, some of them had no problem taking advantage of the kids there. I was considered a prodigy, and the leader took special interest in me.”

“Oh, wow. I’m really sorry.”

“I didn’t even realize how fucked up it all was until like, waaaay later, after I’d left. I thought it was just normal, you know? And now I’m just pissed off about it.”

“I mean, you have every right to be angry.”

“Yeah? I just, like, I’ve reconciled with my parents, but I… I can’t help but hate them a little bit… for everything.”

Bruno didn’t know how to respond.

“You don’t really have parents, do you?” she asked.

“I have the memories of my predecessor’s parents, which sort of makes them my own.”

“Do you miss them?”

“I… guess? As much as you can miss someone you have memories of but have never actually met?”

“I miss the people my parents should’ve been,” Aki said bitterly, “I miss the parents who loved me unconditionally and tried to work with me through my problems. Never met them, but I miss them.”

Bruno supposed he did miss his parents, then. There were a lot of things he missed. He missed believing he was human. He missed that first year of knowing Yusei, when he didn’t have so much baggage. But back then, he’d missed not knowing where he’d come from or if there was a family that was looking for him. That was before he knew the truth, that he didn’t have those things, that he wasn’t real, that his connections to his memories were false at best. That was before he found the real owner of those memories existing within his own consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so in this story, Bruno, the one who met Yusei and friends, is technically distinct from Antinomy. They are the same person but not really. Antinomy, the human, grew to be bitter and spiteful while witnessing the consequences of less than 1% of humanity's actions. Bruno shares memories with Antinomy, but to Bruno those memories are distant, like dreams or imaginations. What will Bruno do with this realization, that the person he was based off of has been living inside his mind and speaking to him this whole time? What can Antinomy, the human, tell Bruno about himself?
> 
> the sentiment aki expresses with regards to her parents is really close to home for me. my mom was very emotionally abusive and drowning in her own neuroses. i often mourn the person she could've been if she was willing to get help. i think a lot about the mom I should've had, and I miss that person a lot, even though she never actually existed.

**Author's Note:**

> this shit is like humpty dumpty meets bicentennial man meets philosophy. i don't know. if i said i had a graduate degree in creative writing, would you believe me?


End file.
